Last night, I was privileged to attend a sneak preview of a few choice new and unusual wines to be premiered to the American public today at the Kosher Food and Wine Experience 2012. Fourteen wines were tasted by a select audience of wine lovers, wine writers, and connoisseur wine traders.

The backdrop of Manhattan’s City Winery a functioning winery, with real wine-making equipment, served as the perfect background with tables set with an array of glasses shaped specially to bring out the best of every vintage. Abigael’sprovided finger foods consisting of tuna, salmon and salad (some nestled in petits fours salés cups) to neutralize the lingering tastes of wine before each new selection.

Royal Wine Corporation‘s Vice President, Jay Buchsbaum, introduced four winemakers from five wineries in Israel, Spain, New Zealand and the US. White wines were served first, then reds. Each wine maker described the selections as they were poured.

Phillip Jones from New Zealand’s Goose Bay and Oregon’s Pacifica introduced four wines (two from each winery)…

All were truly outstanding selections and it was hard to chose favorites. The whites were all delightful and aromatic, the reds interesting and complex. Yet, my palate did seem to favor some…

The second wine we tasted Elvi‘s In Vita was my preferred one among the whites. Made from Spain’s indigenous Pansa Blanca (sometimes known as Xarel-lo) and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, I found this a uniquely elegant wine with rich citrus and tropical notes. It has been rated at 92 by Spain’s Guía Peñin. In Vita sports the body of the Pansa Blanca and the typical aromas of the Sauvignon Blanc. A delightful blend!

Tulip‘s Just Merlot – Dark garnet in color with notes of sweet cedar wood and soft tannins with notes of wild berries and cassis. I found this wine to be not just a Merlot, but the consummate Israeli Merlot.

Elvi‘s Rioja Herenza proved rather interesting, made from 100% Tempranillo grapes with ripe fruit, creamy oak, spices and cocoa. Tasty, with ripe tannins. Elvi also produces a Priorat EL 26, a most unusual wine not to be paired but rather enjoyed just by itself. Full bodied, with strong minerals, wood, pepper, tobacco and showing hints of purple plum and berries. This is a young winery, but its wines have already been rated among Spain’s best.

Pacifica‘s Meritage, proved more than worthy of the Meritage apellation. Meritage is a name given to Bordeaux style wines grown outside of the Bordeaux area, as that name is a legally protected designation of origin. With strong tones of cherry, blackberry, dark chocolate and coffee bean, rich and complex it leads to a silky finish.

A much as I would like to comment on all the fourteen wines we tasted, the fact is that this would then be quite a long post, I’ll just finish by mentioning Flam‘s Syrah Reserve, with it’s deep royal purple, full bodied and heavy concentration of blackberries, black cherries, red plums and wild berries with notes of spring flowers. It is well structured, deep and with a long finish.

I would not have been there, had my good friend Aron Ritter from the Kosher Wine Society (see here, here and here) not alerted me to this superb event on Friday afternoon, shortly before Shabbos. I’m glad he did, I tasted superb wines, met old friends, made new ones and learned quite a bit!